By Jamal Sebnat<\/p>\n
July 11, 2015<\/p>\n
Jamal Sebnat reflects on his first two months as an intern with the High Atlas Foundation, specifically his work with High Atlas Agriculture and Artisanal.<\/em><\/p>\n As an Intern at the High Atlas Foundation, the months May and June have been very enriching for me. I have participated in various projects, but my main focus has been on working with High Atlas Agriculture and Artisanal (HA3)<\/a>\u00a0and the Walnut Factory in the commune of Asni in the High Atlas Mountains.<\/p>\n Together with my colleagues I created a brochure that was used as an information\u00a0sheet at the\u00a0Walnut festival<\/a>\u00a0in Asni, June 12-14, 2015. I selected the pictures for the front page and wrote the text that would be used in the brochure. After that I completed the brochure with HAF Director of Development Jacqueline Seeley, HAF Intern Miranda LaBrash, and the Riad Saba Guest House manager, Brahim. This cooperation is the first step in a new approach planned by HA3 \u2013 Tourism for Development.<\/p>\n It was an especially valuable experience working and cooperating with Ignacio Ruiz, General Manager of HA3, with various tasks relating to preparing the walnut festival. Together with Ignacio I created a film that was shown to the governor of the Tensift-Al Haouz region during the walnut festival. I also assisted Ignacio in various other tasks, such as printing the labels for the oil bottles.<\/p>\n I have conducted various social media activities such as writing a\u00a0Swedish blog post\u00a0<\/a>that is posted on the High Atlas Foundation\u2019s blog in order to spread awareness about the organization in Sweden. I also interviewed on film the factory manager Hassan Inflass, filmed by Interns Miranda LaBrash and Hannah Rickard, which will be used for social media purposes.<\/p>\n Currently I am working on a promotion campaign that will be launched in Sweden for the sale of walnut oil and the planning for the new approach launched by the HA3 \u2013 Tourism for Development.<\/p>\n As an Intern at the High Atlas Foundation, I am able to apply practical experience of working for sustainable development projects in Tanzania, and theoretical knowledge from my masters in Development Studies in the Netherlands. In addition, I am learning several new aspects of developmental work in practice, specific to the context of Morocco.<\/p>\n Besides this I have also been given the opportunity to work with development workers from various parts of the globe. The team spirit at HAF is fantastic, and I am learning more and more by the day.<\/p>\n Thank you everybody at the HAF team,<\/p>\n Jamal Sebnat<\/p>\n About the Author:<\/em><\/p>\n Jamal is a recent graduate of Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies at The Hague. His major was Social Policy and his specialization was Work and Employment, with a special focus on the context of Morocco. He wrote his Master thesis about labour migrants from the Beni Mellal Province in central Morocco.<\/em><\/p>\n Follow HAF on Twitter\u00a0@HafFdtn<\/a>\u00a0or like us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n Learn more at\u00a0https:\/\/highatlasfoundation.org<\/a><\/p>\n